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Epoch Times
11-07-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
A Prayer and a Song: Compline and ‘An Evening Hymn'
In countries all over the world, the bells of abbeys and convents toll at periodic intervals to call people to communal devotion. The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, speaks in a common tongue that bridges different languages. The readings and songs of each Hour are a meditative dialogue between humanity and God. This routine is primarily maintained by religious orders. Secular Christians are invited to participate either on their own or by attending services at a church, abbey, or convent.
Glasgow Times
02-07-2025
- General
- Glasgow Times
How St Mary and St Anne's became Glasgow's Tron Church
This led to a church being established at the south side of the street of St Teneu or St Enoch, to bear the name of Mary of Loretto and of St Anne, her mother. With the consent of the patrons, one of the chaplainries of the church of St Roche's was, in about, incorporated with the Collegiate Church of St Mary and St Anne. John Bell Minister of the Laigh Church Glasgow Museums (Image: Supplied) The Chaplain of St Roche was appointed a canon of that church, subject to the obligation to say mass and other offices in St Roche's Chapel for the souls of its founder. The Cathedral and the Collegiate Church of St Mary and St Ann both maintained choirs in pre-Reformation Glasgow. The Cathedral choir will have sung daily at Mass and each of the eight regular prayer times for the Divine Office. Boys in both choirs studied at the Sang School. (Image: Supplied) The Collegiate Church of St Mary and St Ann had an organist who directed the choir and taught the three boy choristers who studied in the Sang School where they learned how to sing plainchant and polyphony, how to sing improvised harmonies, and play the organ. The boys were removed from their post when their voices broke, but there was provision for them to continue their education at the Grammar School for another two years. After the Reformation, the church with its cemetery in the Trongate, fell into a ruinous state. (Image: Supplied) It was sold by the council in 1570 and reacquired by them around 1592. They had it repaired to be used as a Church of Scotland. The church, which for more than a quarter of a century after the Reformation had been in a poor state, was repaired by the town and was used as a place of worship under the name of the Tron or New Kirk, sometimes known as Laigh Church. They then needed to find the means of supporting a minister. The old revenues of the church had been given to the magistrates of the city by Queen Mary's Act of 1566-7 to be used to fund for poor scholars at the college. (Image: Supplied) There were allegations that these bursaries had been improperly applied to the support of the richest men's sons. An Act of Parliament was therefore obtained in 1594, cancelled the bursaries, and instead devoted the revenues "to the sustentation of the ministry within the city of Glasgow". The bell house of the old church seems to have been occupied till the alterations were made, as in 1593 a tenant was allowed a reduction of half a year's rent "in respect the steeple was taken down". In 1594, the Scottish Parliament passed an act in favour of the ministry of Glasgow, referring to a gift which, after the Reformation, had been made to the magistrates of the city of the chaplaincies and emoluments of the "New Kirk of the College of Glasgow," meaning apparently the Collegiate Church of St Mary and St Ann. A little over 10 years later, the Tron Church was repaired and restored as a Protestant place of worship and a fourth minister was introduced to the city. In 1599, the ministers applied to the Town Council to ask that the town be divided into two separate parishes to allow each minister to know their flock. The city agreed to this on the understanding that the citizens should not be burdened with the building of more kirks or the support of more ministers than already existed. The Tron was as a result separated from the High Kirk. Additions were later made to the church, and the steeple which formed such a conspicuous spot in Trongate was built in 1637/8. In 1793, the old Church was destroyed by fire, and the Tron or St Mary's Church was built on the same site.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Don't let a vocal minority silence Britain's ancient church bells
There used to be a tradition that ringing church bells would drive out evil spirits. Now it's the bells that are being driven out. The latest set of chimes to fall foul of complainers are in Mytholmroyd. It's a small West Yorkshire village, best known as the birthplace of Ted Hughes. Perhaps it was the bells of St Michael's Church that inspired the late Poet Laureate to write in one of his rhymes for children about a bell's 'clang of mumbling boom'. But that clang was far from mumbling for three residents who said they were being kept awake all night by the chimes, ringing every 15 minutes. A noise abatement order imposed on the bells means they now can't be rung at all, so for the first time in 100 years they have fallen silent. There have been similar ding dongs over church bells elsewhere in the past few years: in both Witheridge and Kenton in Devon, in Helpringham in Lincolnshire, and in Beith in Ayrshire, usually by people saying that chimes through the night in these rural neighbourhoods are ruining their sleep. As someone who lives in a city, used to police helicopters overhead, ice cream vans blaring their tinny tunes, trains rattling past, and crowds of students staggering home at night under the influence of numerous intoxicants, I have to say I do find the noise of the countryside rather disturbing. Here in the city, these noises are part of a constant soundscape. In the country, there is an enveloping silence, but then you will be jolted into wakefulness by a cockerel's piercing crow, or a huge piece of farm machinery rattling past, or a herd of cattle lowing their way to milking. But a church bell chime, surely, is in a minor key compared to these other rural interruptions? For me the sound of bells is, well, music to my ears. Despite the planes flying into Heathrow over my head and the police sirens blaring outside my door, I can still hear the sound of a bell nearby, which rings regularly to mark Divine Office being said in a local monastery as well as the Angelus at noon. On Sundays, a peal of bells sounds out at a nearby church, and on weekday evenings too you can hear the ringing, as the tower captain and his team practise Plain Bob Major or Grandsire Triples or one of those other extraordinary mathematical formulas, known as changes, that make up bell-ringing. But the kind of change we don't want is something so quintessentially English as bell-ringing to disappear because after a few people make a fuss, officialdom steps in. The bells of Mytholmroyd were silenced when just three people objected – but the 1,200 residents who wanted the chimes to continue had their petition ignored. It's a growing pattern: a few complaints put an end to chimes that had been loved by communities for generations. Yet there's more at stake here than bells. It sounds a death-knell for our tradition of going with what the majority want. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
